Late NBA great Bill Russell 'leaves a giant example for us all,' says Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

By Don Lemon and George Ramsay, CNN

Updated 1045 GMT (1845 HKT) August 2, 2022

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(CNN)Six-time NBA champion Kareem Abdul-Jabbar has paid tribute to the late Bill Russell, his mentor and friend who he said «leaves a giant example for us all.»

Russell, an 11-time NBA champion with the Boston Celtics and the league's first Black head coach, died on Sunday aged 88. He was also a prominent civil rights activist, marching alongside Martin Luther King Jr. during the «I Have a Dream» speech in 1963, denouncing racial segregation and supporting Muhammad Ali's refusal to be drafted